Will Darling's gamble pay off?
Peter Hoskin 6:19pm
A good post by Nick Robinson, outlining the gambles that underpin Alistair Darling's Pre-Budget Report:
For me, it's the first of these that represents the biggest - and riskiest - gamble. The Treasury's tax receipt and net borrowing figures always tend to be optimisitic. The question now is whether they're even more optimistic than usual - given that they're most likely predicated on Darling's claim that the economy will start recovering by the third quarter of 2009."What's more the chancellor's bet depends on other risky gambles. First, that the British economy will recover as early as the second half of next year. Second, that the government can deliver a major clampdown on spending and huge efficiency savings. Thirdly, that the electorate will support a significant rise in taxes targeted at the wealthy but which will hit those on middle incomes too."
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Rhoda Klapp
November 24th, 2008 6:36pm Report this commentWhat gamble? This is basically a surrender to forces beyond his control. There is no stimulus in the package, the VAT change is neither here nor there to a punter, and bypasses business spending entirely. He's putting our future on a credit card, and hopes we can work hard enough in the future so he doesn't ever have to cut back on expenditure. All we get is the sure and certain knowledge that if we ever do get a step or two ahead of the game he or his successors will take it off us.
The answer when you are too deep in debt, for a private person, is to cut back on expenditure and work your way out. Would Captain Darling recommend each of US to get out of debt by borrowing? Probably not. So why is he willing to borrow so much, thousands per man woman and child, to solve the nation's problems? Maybe I should get credit cards in my kids' names so I can borrow away their futures?
CB-W
November 24th, 2008 7:45pm Report this commentRhoda: I think you'll find that, thanks to the loss of child benefit data last year, credit cards in your childrens' names are already being used round the world.
kinglear
November 24th, 2008 8:33pm Report this commentThe answer is : No.
Wilhelm
November 24th, 2008 9:24pm Report this commentWill Darling's gamble pay off?
Nope, Next.
Austin Barry
November 24th, 2008 10:53pm Report this commentRhoda, the private person you posit can counter the Darling gamble in a similar vein by liquidating the family assets, flying to Las Vegas, rocking up at one of the casinos (the Mirage seems apt) and placing the full amount on red or black at the nearest roulette wheel. If you win you're sorted. If you lose, return to the UK, sign on as a Labour welfare client and, well, you're sorted with a suntan.
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